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Safety
The Safety Sub-team of Cornell ChemE Car is led by the Safety Officer. This individual is responsible for safety across the entire ChemE Car team. In addition, there are generally three – four additional members who serve on the Safety Team. All members of the Safety Team, including the Safety Officer, serve on a power team as well. Safety members are responsible for attending their respective power team’s meetings and completing specific deliverables associated with that team. The goal behind this setup is that Safety members will become entirely engrossed in the development and construction of their respective car. This full immersion provides them with a comprehensive understanding and knowledge of any hazards associated with the construction and operation of the respective car. Safety members are responsible for preparing an Engineering Documentation Package (EDP) associated with their respective car if the car is eligible to attend competition. Even if the car is not eligible to compete, members are to ensure that all AIChE Safety Rules are adhered to and that all proper safety procedures are followed in the lab. So far this semester, the Safety Team has completed the EDP (Engineering Documentation Package) for our National competition and developed a chemical waste disposal schedule in coordination with EHS. We also recruited 2 new volunteers and are in the process of training them. These prospective members are specifically being trained to understand the sub-teams that most frequently send cars to competition. At the previous Regional competition, we passed the safety inspections for both our Battery and Fuel Cell cars. The poster competition at Regaionals gave us the opportunity to learn more about the safety aspects of other car designs. Background Main article: History of the Safety Subteam This team was created by Jennifer Brenner in Fall of 2012. The purpose was to accomodate the increasing number of power sub-teams and people on our team. Safety Team meetings are generally held on a weekly basis. The goal of these meetings is to provide members an opportunity to discuss any safety concerns that arise within their power teams. General team updates and lab safety is also discussed. Meetings are usually held in the ChemE Car lab, B05 Olin Hall. Meetings can be canceled if there is nothing to discuss or a longer deliverable was assigned to be completed over the course of more than one week. In addition to the regular weekly meetings, the Safety Team also conducts brief informal meetings/status updates after the weekly General Body meetings. Deliverables are assigned on a weekly or bi-weekly basis depending on what is being expected for the deliverable. The deliverables can widely vary from doing background research to compiling an MSDS binder to creating a form for the ChemE Car team. Deliverables that are assigned are intended to have a direct impact on the team and are not meant as “fluff” assignments. Deliverables are often submitted through the Safety Folder under the “Deliverables” folder in the ChemE Car File Sharing System located on the Google Drive. It is important to note that a primary function of the Safety Team is to compile the EDPs for the cars eligible to compete. Since this often takes a large amount of time to complete, deliverables can be tailored in a way to support the completion of the EDP. Weekly/bi-weekly checkpoints can serve in place of the deliverables. The purpose of the checkpoints is to check in with Safety Members to gauge the progress that has been made in working toward the completion of the EDP. Goals should be set for each checkpoint to provide guidance to the Safety Members as to what is expected of them. In the Spring of 2013, we made efforts to mitigate any liabilities or legal risks in the event of an accident. We created a series of forms to protect Cornell University, Cornell ChemE Car Project Team, its trustees, officers, directors, agents and members. The forms are a Hold Harmless Agreement and an Individual Safety Contract. Both forms are required to be signed by all officers and members, regardless of their status on the team (volunteer or full time member). Membership on the team, both as a volunteer and a full time member are conditional on the member signing these forms. Since our beginning in 2012, we have made use of the abundant training opportunities available online through CU-Learn. Trainings are provided by EHS and cover a wide variety of topics ranging from basic lab safety to chemical waste disposal to safe handling of compressed gases. Unfortunately, the training provided by EHS will most likely not provide you with all of the information you need in order to conduct a thorough safety review. For example, information important for selecting appropriate relief valves or preventing a runaway reaction will most likely not be able to be obtained from EHS. Alumni Class of 2013 *Jennifer Brenner (Fall 2012 - Spring 2013) Class of 2015 *Charles Sharkey (Fall 2012 - Spring 2013) Class of 2016 *Xiaolu Wen (Fall 2013 - Spring 2014) Category:Safety Category:Subteams